Gallstones. Ouch!

While some of you have been in the loop on my progressing pains..others have not so I thought I would start from the beginning.

A few weeks ago I began having stomach pains. Pain doesn't correctly identify it, it was more like labor w/o a baby. I passed it off as allergic reactions because that is how it felt when I eat eggs...only about 10x worse. So of course I just figured my allergy was getting worse. I experienced them about 4-5x in 2/3 weeks. Since the pain always felt the same..but lasted a variable mount of time (5-9 hours) I assumed it was all allergy related. When I went thru my diet and realized I hadn't eaten eggs, I figured my body was reacting to a new allergy. I would take Benadryl and, for the most part, my pain would subside.

Then Friday came. While at work I ate a granola bar and drank a cup of hot chocolate, these activities are normal. However I began having intense pain. I could feel it coming on and for the most part it felt like every other time however now I began having chills and cold sweats. I sat in the bathroom for a little bit, primarily to get away from people and let myself make faces and stomp my feet in pain in privacy. I got myself to a point where I could walk and I went over to the other building. Now when you are home, or at least when I am, I can deal with pain better because I am comfortable. I tried to lie to myself and say it was like every other time. Yet in my head I knew it wasn't. I couldn't sit still, knew that what I had eaten was a daily routine plus I felt beyond nauseous. After laying on my dads couch for a minute I admitted to myself that I needed to go to the dr. My dad was there and I asked him to bring me in. The downside of admitting I'm in pain is that I immediately feel worse. I begged him to drive faster. When we got to the ER I explained I thought I was having an allergic reaction to something new. After all, having had these pains for weeks I always assumed it was allergy related. They brought me in a room, got me lit on benadryl and took a bunch of tests. I began feeling better. I stayed there for about 2 hours and answered all their questions, assuming it was allergies. They asked if this pain was similar to other allergic reactions..of course I said yes.

The dr returned and wanted to do an ultrasound of my organs to be sure. Plus I kept pointing to my gallbladder and he wasn't buying my allergy excuse. He hardly put the scope on my skin and what showed their faces? Gallstones. A whole lot of them. In fact, I was full of these medium sized stones. He explained that when I get sharper pain it may because the stones are blocking things and/or trying to pass. This made sense. He went on to tell me that if I was having symptoms that they probably wouldn't go away without surgery. Some people live with these stones and never know because they are symptom free, however once you have symptoms they will keep coming back. Since I felt better I wanted to leave. He said tht was fine but wanted me to call my dr on Mon.

I went back to work to pick up Corey and we drove together to hutch to drop off the kids with my mom. I slept most of the way there and back. When we got home I did some research and found out I had almost every symptom of gallstones. I knew a couple people that had their gallbladders removed and they both agreed that I was feeling the same way they did and surgery was inevitable. Well guess what...I'm cheap...and I don't have great health insurance so I wanted to make it to Monday to avoid another ER charge. Saturday we woke up and hosted a garage sale. I pushed myself more than I should have but I had some vicadin to help me out. The rain came and poured on our sale. We left, ran errands and went home. I kept getting worse so I popped another pill and went to sleep. I didn't have an appetite but was set that I needed to make it to Mon. About midnight Corey stopped working on the race car and specifically asked if we should go in. I said no. I stuck with that answer until about 2 hours later when the vicaden wasn't touching the pain. We went to the ER in St Cloud. They told me to sit in the waiting room but after crying like a lady in labor they brought me back and hooked me up to pain killers. I was receiving a new dose every 30 min or so. A surgeon came in and said once my pain was managed they wanted to run some lab work to see how my other organs were doing.

From then to my surgery I got admitted and brought to the 4th floor. I received lots of pain meds and continued to be in pain. We found out that I had passed a stone and it was affecting my pancreas. S
Surgery was scheduled for an hour later.

First they removed my gallbladder then they put a camera down my throat to see where the stones that passed went to. Once found they cut the muscle, put in air, and removed them. Come to find out they were blocking other areas which caused more pain.

After surgery I was very tired and slept. I am on a liquid diet until things become semi~
normal.  I was hoping to get released today (Monday) but I am very sore nd don't see that happening. I am also getting shots in the stomach to prevent blood clots from forming. As of right now, I am going to listen to my body and not push it. I feel worse than I did after childbirth, which makes sense since that is natural. I won't be able to lift my kids for a couple weeks but at least I am still here.

Thank you everyone that provided an ear to listen and help thru this cruddy time. I appreciate it.

Life with 2 kids..still learning!

Today I confirm, once again, that I am not 'stay at home mom' material. I am home because Emma woke up with a real rough cough and what sounded like a super sore throat. I decided to stay home and get on the mend. Corey asked if I wanted him to take Shaw to daycare, but I figured I might as well keep him home too. Yep, a sick 2.5 year old and a teething (eye tooth, mind you) 8 month old. I can honestly say I am not sure which one is worse...or maybe it isn't them but my work brain that runs nonstop. Emma is finally sleeping and I just put Shaw back down. I thought I would try and focus on something to keep my mind busy. Not only that, but I am on the computer typing away so, if nothing else, I can at least feel like I am getting stuff done!

Shaw--oh my Shawman....he more recently has been referred to as 'short stack'..yep like pancakes. He isn't too rolly polly like Emma was but he sure is a doll. He has bright blue eyes and a smile that (usually) doesn't quit. However, if he is hungry and you don't feed him...you will know it soon. He has been on the verge of rolling over for months now..of course he is closer now but still doesn't do it to get around. This also means he doesn't crawl, however he is working to get his belly off the ground and get up on his knees. He has been doing a great job sliding backwards but nothing forward yet. He is obsessed with cell phones and remotes. Don't show him one otherwise he will lunge towards it. He is a good eater--usually 2-3 containers a sitting. He seems to prefer veggies lately over fruit-loves sweet potatoes and this macaroni meal that they have now. Isn't a huge fan of meat yet..we have tried a couple times. Then again, Emma still isn't.  He is wearing 12 mo clothes and has been since around Christmas time. He used to love jumping in his jumper (as of a few months ago) but hasn't been doing it around home as much lately. I enjoy putting Emma and shaw on their feet and swaying Shaw back and forth. Emma holds his hands and says 'dance dance' and thinks they are dancing. Adorable. They have a mutual love for one another. 

Emma- still my red-headed favorite daughter. She is so sweet and her personality is really coming out each week. I love having her learn new things. Recently we purchased a medical kit for her (we don't really buy a whole lot of toys--she gets plenty from other people). SHE LOVES it. We sing the 'time for a check up' song from Doc McStuffins and listen to each other's hearts. I also pretend to listen to her belly, lungs and back..hoping that will help a bit next time we are at the dr. Corey has been taking her outside during the nice days and she loves it. Even when she is cold she doesn't want to come inside-we bribe her everytime. She is getting tougher to put to bed--even have pushed her bedtime to 8pm (from 7/730) and it hasn't really helped. She also has been getting out of bed, walking out of her room, and in to ours about 2x/week for the past few weeks. Not fun. She also has been asking 'how may I help you' ..they must play restaurant at daycare..we do it over and over (and over...and over..). She wears 2T but more 3T..can't wait to take her to the lake and do all kinds of stuff this summer. She also shares her size 5 diapers with her brother...since she isn't in tune to potty training yet. We have tried 2x and she would sit on there but wouldn't do anything ever! then she grew bored of it and doesn't want anything to do with it anymore. We will try again in a month or so..if it doesn't work then we will wait til after the summer. 

This about all that is going on in our lives. We are anxiously waiting for old man winter to die and bring out the sun! 

Sad, very sad

Today, I decided to log in to my blog to see when I started Emma on cereal (not to update it of course) and I couldn't remember the website. Actually, I think I remembered it but things must have changed since last time I logged in. Then, I find it and forgot my password. Figured that out and looked through the first 6 months of Emma's life and didn't see a post about cereal..I swear there is one. I think I may be losing my head.

Well now that I started a post...here is an update.

Shaw is 3 months old. I have hardly even introduced him on here and he is already over 3 months old. He is doing great. He is full of smiles and even giggles. He chats here and there but loves when he has company. When left alone, he often crys out a little bit to try and get someone to come over and talk to him. He is so darn cute. He is definitely a Corey look-a-like, very happy with that. He has blue eyes though, which is interesting since neither Corey nor I have them. He must have gotten them from Grandma Donna (my mom) because that is the closest family member we can think of. As I mentioned a bit earlier, I think I am going to try cereal today. I have put it in his bottle a few times but it seemed to upset his stomach so I stopped. Today, we are going to try again with a spoon! I know Emma was eating cereal from a spoon at either 3 or 4 months because she was in to full blown- veggies at 6 months. He is gaining weight well too. He wears 6 mo clothes but 6-9 fit best. The thing I can't say enough..is how often he smiles. We just love it!

Emma is just as playful as ever. She is SO much fun. This morning I decided to make cinnamon rolls and she loves to help me. I measure things out and she puts it in the bowl. She even attempts to mix things. She LOVES to help make (and eat) pancakes. She stands on a chair next to me and watches as I make pancakes, eggs, and sausage. She points to each one and tells me what it is. Her favorite show is still Mickey Mouse, however she really likes Special Agent Oso as well. She still loves to read, play with her kitchen, and color. She is saying more and more words, too. The thing we most enjoy now is 'C'mon' She says it whenever she wants us to follow her. "C'mon Mommy' So cute. She is really staring to put things together and respond. Like when I change brother's diaper she says 'oh pee-u' or 'that's gross' so funny!

The time change really affected our schedule. Not to mention after the time change Corey and I caught some kind of stomach flu/bug so we stayed home and slept that Tuesday and really jacked with schedules again. Last night was the first night in a week that Emma didn't get up in the middle of the night. Shaw on the other hand woke up 2-3x ( I can't remember). He has been getting up once and we will go in and put his nuk back in his mouth and wrap him and then he is fine until we wake him up to leave. He seems to be ultra hungry this morning/last night so I am thinking he is growing---hence the cereal. Emma was sleeping thru the night at 3 months, mainly because we let her cry it out. Well, we are afraid to let him do that because he will wake her up so we are trying to do it a more quiet way (only giving him his nuk and leaving) but it has only had 50% success over the last month so we will try a few other things next week.

Well its food time for Shaw. I will get out the camera and post pics!

7 weeks old

My little Shaw is 7 weeks old. Things are going well. He is still sporadic, however like I have said before I don't know if it is him or me. With your first child you are able to focus solely on that child. With the second one, things just are not the same. I have a 2 year old running around who is also demanding my attention so I don't have as much time to focus on Shaw's behaviors and leading him to a set schedule like I was able to do with Emma.

Mornings he is the most awake--with little to no naps from the time he wakes up (around 630) until noonish. Then he sleeps a lot in the afternoon. He wakes up usually one time through the night. That time ranges from midnight to 2am. With Emma it was pretty much 2 am every night, like clockwork. One thing that is different now is that I work with Corey in Maple Lake (for my dad) and we leave our house at 520 am for work....so if I can slightly tweak his schedule to wake up at 3 then 4 then 430 we will be good. I returned to work on Monday and Monday night was fantastic....Shaw slept thru the night. We put him to bed around 8pm or so and at 4:30 I had to go and wake him up. It was great....and also a fluke. I am writing right now at 4am..and woke up with him around 2:30. It's ok..one step at a time. He is still eating about 5 oz every 3-4 hours. He still loves to be swaddled and loves to be wrapped in blankets. This usually means he is sweating but he doesn't mind.

I think Shaw is looking more and more like Corey. His eyes are a darker blue right now. Corey has hazel eyes ..but Shaw's could always lighten up. I feel like his face structure and features resemble Corey...for sure more than me. A little side story--he also sweats like Corey...so I don't know if anyone else (or their husbands) have this situation but Corey's side of the bed is several shades darker than mine. Yes, it doesn't help that we have white sheets..but anywhere that his skin connects with the sheets is darker. I don't know if it is sweat or just body oils or what. Whenever I wash our sheets (and bleach them) Corey tries to switch the sheets around so he doesn't have the 'dirty' side. I say no way, because then our sheets are going to look dingy everywhere rather than just where his body falls...because my side is still very white. It's an ongoing joke at our house. Well, Shaw has the same thing going on...only since he is clothed/swaddled, the only area that connects with his crib sheets is his neck/head...and where in that spot a dingy circle has formed. It's just kind of funny and I think Corey probably likes to see more of 'him' in our kids...although Emma doesn't look like him..she is sure turning out to have his temper---yippee!

Emma is still fantastic. She recently has learned to give him his nuk and also feed him. She loves him so much and we enjoy watching her interact with him. The downside is when I lay him on the couch or on the floor so I can do laundry/dishes/etc I have to keep an eye on her because even if he is content..or even sleeping..she will still attempt to feed him or shove the nuk in his mouth. She is a very eager helper.

As the end of summer comes around the corner, our racing season is also finishing up. Corey has traveled the last two week-ends to visit new tracks that he has been thinking about. This coming week-end is the Wissota 100 in Huron, but we will not be going. This means the entire week-end is open--its a crazy thing that never happens, literally first time this summer! Next week-end he will only race on Sunday in St. Cloud. The following week-end is the triple header in St. Cloud at the all new Granite City Speedway (formerly Golden Spike). We love it there so we are excited about that. Then we will finish up our season in Alexandria for the Fall Classic the first week-end in October. What is in store for next year? We haven't made the final decision. When Corey came home from Iraq and wanted to start racing we made a 5-year deal saying we would race for 5 years, after that we would re-negotiate if it still fit in our lives or if it would be family time. This year was our 5th year, so we will be negotiating and see how racing fits in to the next chapter of our lives.

I think that is about it. Enjoy these last warm days that we have before the cold comes!

2 parents + a 2 year old + a 6 week old= the Eystads

Wow, I really (truly...) need to keep up with this. Last time we touched base Shaw was 10 days old and that was weeks ago. He is going to be 6 weeks old on Wednesday. This is so bittersweet since I know that I am going to be returning to work the following week. Just one more week at home with my bundle of joy.

I have learned (or re-learned) some things about myself through this maternity leave:
1. I am not stay-at-home mom material.
2. I am not daycare material for children under the age of 2. I think 2+ would be fun to do projects but I am not running to the nearest county office to sign-up for a daycare license
3. You can't get much done around the house when you have a 2 year old and an infant...and some how you have to adjust your way of thinking that this is ok!

We have went through a few changes with Shaw. Last time I posted I said he was a good baby and slept a lot in the afternoon. This is all still true..however he went through a time where he was very sparatic. Sometimes sleeping for 5 hours at a time and other times waking up every 1-2 hours through the night. The last week has been much better....he goes to bed around 8pm..wakes around 1-2 am and then not again until 5-6 am. I like this MUUUCH better. Once the kids are in daycare they will need to be up and out of the house by 5:20am so Shaw will actually need to wake up around 4:30 in order to get fed and allow me to get Emma and myself ready as well. On the feeding side, Shaw is eating 5-6 ounces every 3-4 hours. He has been very tough to burp so I changed him to the gentle formula and that seems to be working. I also changed up the way I burp him which has also helped. A few people have recommended getting the gas drops which I am also going to try. Shaw also has thrush. I asked my doctor about it at his 2 week appt and she wasn't sure since he was so young but she went ahead and wrote a prescription..I waited to give it to him to see if it would get worse and it recently has..so now he is being medicated.

Even though I am on maternity leave, I have been helping out and clocking in a lot of hours at work. In fact I worked Tues-Fri at 12pm this past week. Corey was home with the kids. He got in to a pattern and by Thursday things were rolling right along...I think Shaw may have been better for him than he was for me...and thats great.

Emma loooves her baby brother! Corey and I have caught her trying to feed him, petting his head, and putting in his nuk when we are not around. When he screams sometimes she says "baby crying" and she (very often) wants to hold him...which we allow her to do as long as he isn't eating or burping. She loves when he lays in her bed with her and together they watch Mickey Mouse....these kids are SO cute!

Emma hasn't done anything more with the potty chair but we will be starting that once fall comes and she is held up inside more often. She is saying more words too---our favorites are "sorry" and "bless you". One day I put her in time out and afterwards I was telling her what she did wrong and trying to get her to say 'sorry'...well after many many attempts she wouldn't. Then the next day Corey was putting her in her carseat and he nudged her a little bit and he goes 'Oh sorry' and she repeated him. She definitely does things on her own time. Now she says it more often and even at the appropriate times. When any of sneeze..or even cough..she follows it up with 'bless you' and its super adorable.

On the racing front, we are wrapping up another year. Corey is participating in the year end invitationals now..which are always the most fun. Our last race will be the Fall Classic which is the first or second week-end in October held at Viking Speedway in Alexandria......if you haven't gotten to watch him this year (or ever)..make sure you do so before the end of the year..........plans for next year have not been decided yet!

That's about it for now!

Life with two kids

Today Shaw has officially hit double digits- 10 days old.

In all honesty, things have been going better than I had expected. Two myths have been busted:
Myth 1. I will never love any child as much as I love Emma. I think a lot of parents go through this/have this feeling before bringing a second child to the world. I do love Emma a ton, but this guy has a solid hold on my heart as well.
Myth 2. Managing two kids is going to be exhausting and difficult. Not so true. Now, ask me again in 3 months when Shaw is more alert and then ask me when he is mobile--I will probably have a different answer. For now, things are all right.

Shaw is a great baby. He sleeps a lot during the afternoon/early evening so we are going to work on having more 'awake' time and pushing off those extensive naps in to the overnight. He is waking up to eat every 3-4 hours, which is normal. He is eating between 2-4 ounces depending on the time of day and about 2 out of every 5 times I change his diaper...he pees. I have a barrier so it doesn't fly all over but he has definitely shot his fountain in to the air multiple times. Yesterday (August 3) his umbilical cord finally fell off. It didn't bother me as much this time around; however I couldn't wait to get him in the tub!

Yesterday was a big day for Emma too, she went poo-poo in the potty. It was more my idea than hers. She had been grunting for a couple days and so I just asked her 'Should we sit on the big girl potty' She said 'yes' so off we went. She was grunting in the bathroom before I set her down but shortly after sitting she went. Of course Corey and I were making a huge deal out of it and gave up her favorite snack when she was done- Mr. Freezee. I don't know if we will be doing it anytime soon she seemed a bit scared of it once she sat down. The chair has been out for the past 6 months. She opens and closes it and will also sit on it with her clothes on. I haven't pushed or even brought up the subject of potty training with her because I didn't want her to go backwards once Shaw joined us. Now that he is here it is something we can work on. Thursday was another first of hers--her first haircut. Marcy, Corey's aunt, cut her bangs. I loved how she looked with a clip in her hair, however it rarely stayed in and I was always snapping pictures with her hair all down in her eyes and it drove me crazy. We only cut her bangs for now, the back can happen another time...but I want to be able to put it up for the rest of the summer at least.

The first evening that Emma and Shaw were together she was a terror. I am not sure if this was because she had been spoiled for a week at Todd & Bryn's cabin and then at my moms place, if it was the lack of sleep, or if it was the baby. The next day she still wasn't good and spent some extra time in her room; but by day 3 she was asking to hold him. Now she asks to hold him and doesn't want to stop, throws his diapers away without us asking and wants to help when she can. When he cries she gets upset- I don't know if its because it makes her sad or if she is scared. At first, I thought it was because he was getting attention and she wanted it but now I think its more of a worried thing.

A final note:  THANK YOU (!!!!!!!!) to all of our friends and family that came to the hospital or that have come and visited us at home. We are so lucky to have you all in our lives--we love you!  If you didn't make it--don't feel bad we only welcomed visitors one day...feel free to contact us if you want to come out and meet Mr. Shaw.

The search for 'Shaw'

If we are 'friends' on Facebook, then you know that finding our baby boy's name was quite the challenge. We were taking the decision seriously but were having a truly difficult time. Here is a bit about our name search and how we landed on 'Shaw'.

Throughout my pregnancy Corey and I were pretty laxed when it came to preparing. This was our second baby so it wasn't as 'new' as it was with Emma. His room was done later, I didn't garage sale looking for items, his bag wasn't packed, and his name was definitely not decided.

We would discuss names........for like a minute and then move on to a different topic. We knew we had to make a decision but we also knew we had time.

As of Monday, July 23rd we had the following names:
- Deven (Corey's choice)- Corey met a guy named Deven a few months ago and decided that he really liked the name
- Riley (mutual liking)- I mentioned it one night and he agreed he liked it
- Noah (my choice) - Not sure where I got it, but like it

When we took Emma to the lake on Monday, there was a little boy named Noah and his mom just kept yelling for him 'Noah, Noah' and I had enough. I told Corey right there- Noah is off my list.

Walking in to to the hospital on Wednesday, July 25 we had the following names on our mind:
- Deven
- Hank-- a name that we liked for a while
- Riley

About 3 hours in to the day, Corey decided to add "Jackson" to our list. This was interesting since I mentioned Jackson months ago and it was a name he turned down instantly. Here we were with our new list:
-Deven
-Hank
-Riley
-Jackson

I gave birth and we were so focused on other things that we just called him 'baby' 'little guy' 'buddy' and 'dude'. We decided that we would take a family vote that night. Corey's mom and sister came up to visit and so we asked them, I also texted my mom, sister, and a good friend of mine- Sarah Fischer. Somewhere we decided against Hank because we thought it might lose the 'cute' factor once he got to a certain age. We were voting on:
- Deven
- Riley
- Jackson

Our vote turned out to be 'Jackson'. Some family mentioned spelling it Jaxon and nicknaming him Jax rather than Jack. We liked it but it was obvious that our search wasn't done. Either way the vote eliminated Riley.

When his family left we flipped a coin between Deven and Jackson. The flip concluded with Jackson and, again, we weren't sold.

Thursday came -- and still no name. The birth registrar called us in the morning asking for information to fill out the birth certificate and we told her she would have to call back the next day. We had family coming that night and we knew we were going to get pressured to make a decision--apparently that wasn't enough motivation for us because the evening came and no name was decided. My mom and step-dad (Jim) came up as well as Todd, Bryn, Carson, Morgan (the wonderful Muehlbauer clan that Emma is always with). Once they left Katie Sabraski was up with Brae and we were talking names and she said something about 'Shaw'. Corey got a big smile on his face. Shaw is a name Corey thought of back when I was pregnant with Emma. If she was a boy, it was our top running name; however when he mentioned it sometime during this pregnancy I had turned it down right away...probably mainly because he turned down all my boy names instantly. Now, with it being brought up, this began the discussion again- I agreed that I liked the name as well. It is unique, yet not completely crazy. We also had Chris Studanski and Christina Wollak up, who agreed that Shaw was a great name. Now, let's not ignore the obvious.....'Shaw' is a popular name in the racing community. In fact, Corey drives a Larry SHAW midwest modified. This is originally where the name came up. These 3 friends who loved the name are all racing friends--however I am sure there is no correlation between the two :) My objection was that 'Shaw Donald' did not flow. Since Corey had decided years ago (literally) that our son would have the middle name 'Donald' it was a non-negotiable topic and I wasn't sure if I liked it.

Our friends left and we sent baby boy down to the nursery. We decided to take a stroll down to the cafeteria and we came back and (finally) had a great discussion about names. By now we had input from our family, the nursing staff, and friends. Throughout the pregnancy, day of birth, and hospital stay it was the best name conversation we had...however we added another name: Owen. It had been a name I suggested a while back but, of course, Corey was stuck on 'Deven' at that time and wasn't fancying any other names. Our new list was like this:
- Deven
- Jackson
- Owen
- Shaw

We went through each name, talking about spelling, nicknames, pairing it with Emma, connecting it with 'Donald', looking at him and calling him by each name, and even yelling out "Emma and ______ get over here". Yep, we went to all lengths. At this point, Deven went right out the window. It was a tongue twister for me to pair it with Emma in a yelling situation. I said I would end up calling our kids 'Evan' because I would throw the two names together. Corey tried and he agreed. For the first time in months he actually said 'no' to Deven--BIG shocker! Jackson- we decided that even though we can't look at babys and come up with names, even to us the little guy did not look like a Jackson. In addition, our family vote and coin toss concluded with Jackson and we obviously hadn't chose it for a reason. Owen- we liked. It sounded good with Emma and Donald, and it wasn't a tongue twister. Lastly, Shaw. Which we both like for the unique value. There it was--
-Shaw
-Owen.

We felt very good about these two names and wrote them up on the white board so we could ponder on them through the night.

In the morning we still felt great about them, as we began discussing the registrar lady called again asking if we had come up with a name. I told her to give us an hour. Sometime in the next 30 minutes we decided that we placed more value on the 'unique' factor than the 'flow' factor. Meaning- that we liked that 'Shaw' was unique more than the fact that we disliked that it didn't flow too well with 'Donald' which was the positive of  'Owen'. Once we decided I told Corey to text our family so we couldn't change our minds. I finished feeding Shaw and published it on Facebook--which then we definitely couldn't go back :) Then, Corey had the nerve to add- if we have another boy we will name him Owen, because I really like that name" Ummmm...wait ANOTHER baby? I don't think so. I know women forget the pain but not nearly enough time has passed--hell I am still in the hospital!! Note to family who is getting a glimpse of hope- Shaw is our last child.

That is how Baby Eystad became Baby Shaw Eystad.

DOB: July 25

Our little bundle of joy is here! He may be nameless but is definitely loved!

My induction was scheduled for 6am, we checked in about 5:45 and were admitted to the largest birthing suite at the St. Cloud hospital. It is insane and we didn't want to leave! It is a corner room with 2 full walls of floor to ceiling windows. There was so much space. They do this for people who want to make this a family experience- the Eystads did not :)

7am: They got me admitted and I was receiving pitocen by 7am. It was different to just wait for the contractions to start versus with Emma when my water broke and it was 'go' time. I was dilated to a 'stretchy 4' which they said was a good thing that my cervix was so soft.

8:45 am- Dr. Marushin came in and broke my water. I was dilated to a 5 at this time

10am- the contractions were getting stronger and I received my epidural. My nurse, Carla, called the doctor to come check me since I was feeling a lot of pressure

10:13- Dilated to a 6 and released a lot of water when she checked me so they were sure things were going to start moving quickly.

12:17pm I was dilated to 7 and 80% effaced

1:11pm- dilated to 8 with lots of pressure. My nurse called my doctor to come over from the clinic and she got stuck in some road construction. She also called a doctor that is going through her residency but she was stuck in a c-section so we called the doctor on call. Good thing because this baby was coming and I was feeling a ton of pressure.

1:58pm- gave birth to a healthy baby. The official weight was 9 lbs 2.7 ounces but they rounded it up to 3. He is 20" long. They said my doctor was running down the hallways to get to me, she came in to watch me push 1-2x and catch him. She was suprised how fast things went since I went from an 8 to basically pushing in less than an hour. She also mentioned that she was very glad that we decided to induce because she didn't want to see how big he could have gotten. I believe my first words after he was born were "I am so glad that is over" and I probably repeated it 3-4x back to back, and then 20x throughout the night. I only pushed 3-4x but it was painful, even with the epidural.

3:27pm- still in recovery, extremely glad it was over. In lots of pain.

I began losing a lot of blood and this was a bit concerning, but everything was fine, they just wanted to watch it. Usually they try to get you out of the recovery room within 2 hours of delivery; however they didnt' end up moving us until about 5-5:30. While holding the baby I got very dizzy and had Corey take him, I was very sure I was going to pass out. Shortly after they were going to transfer me to a wheel chair to try and go to the bathroom and I had another dizzy spell. Therefore, they had me lay back down and hang out in the room for a bit longer. When they decided to transfer me, they actually just pushed me down the hallway in the bed. I snacked on a donut and muffin throughout the afternoon but hadn't had a meal.

When we moved in to our post-delivery room, baby boy got his first bath right inside the room. It was very neat and he did a great job. He also did a good job eating.

We ordered Pizza Ranch and ate dinner with Corey's mom and sister. Around 830 they let me try to get up, which I was able to do just fine. I am sure my body just needed a meal.

Denis and Lora came up around 830 to bring Corey a blanket (THANK YOU!) and so we got to hang out with them a bit. Then we hit the hay about 9:30pm. Bleeding became fine and I felt good as well.

Now today- the goal is to decide on a name, little guy will get his circumcision, and I want to get in the nice jetted tubs that they have.

Dear Mr. Junior Eystad

Hello my dear child. Tomorrow is the day your father and I have been waiting for for quite some time, beyond the 9 months that I was pregnant with you. We have talked about a family like this for years, even years before our marriage. Tomorrow, when you are born, our family will be complete. Your sister Emma is a sweetheart; she melts our heart every day and we know you will too. At times I am sure you will find her to be your friend, ally, and even your scapegoat, but no matter what she is your family. Sweetheart, there is nothing more important than family. I pray your father and I will raise you to believe and live this throughout all your years.

The fact that I am getting induced tells me that you are going to be stubborn, which is a trait both your mom and dad have. I hope you are a spitting image of your dad including his down to earth personality and his humor. I can't wait to watch your personality form and watch how you form in to the world around you. As you form, don't conform. Instead, be you. Be confident in yourself and know that no matter what, you are enough. God made you special and unique for a reason, embrace it. I know that we will, every day of our lives.

I love you already and am so excited to meet you.

Mom

History has not repeated itself...

Doctor's appointment yesterday--she asked if I had thought anymore about getting induced. I said I had and would schedule it for next week but really wanted to try and get him to come on his own to prevent a potential c-section. She agreed. So I asked if she would strip my membranes..which she easily agreed to. With Emma, I got contractions immediately and 24 hours later my water broke. Well, my appointment was yesterday at 9:30, I have felt only a few contractions but no major discomfort. I do not see my water breaking in the next 3 hours. Huge bummer! In hindsight, I was almost 40 weeks with E and hadn't progressed at all; whereas I am already a 3 (even if I have been for 2 weeks) and I am at 38 weeks. I guess he is just not ready to join us yet. I will be doing lots of walking thru the week-end to try and persuade him to come out and meet us.

If you are on Facebook, you probably have noticed the maternity pictures we took last week. We went to Jennings Distinct Images out of St. Cloud (she actually lives closer to St. Joe). The few pictures on Facebook are just a sneak peak of what is to come, I am hoping to see them in the next 2 weeks or so. Emma wasn't smiling a whole lot for us so I was happy to have one good family pic, and I love the pic of her laying on my belly.

That's about it....I can only hope that my next post will be highlighting baby E's birth rather than my feelings prior to induction--but only time will tell.

Contractions

I had lots of contractions last night. They weren't consistent..and to be honest some of them may have been 'fake' and it could be he was moving and hitting things that caused cramping...either way it made me go in to nesting a bit further. Saturday's goal: pack our bags, take maternity photos, and put the infant car seat in the Edge. Then I think I would feel more prepared. Then when my mom visits on Sunday we can clean out baby's room and the misc other things..and I may feel better. I am hoping she can find more storage space somewhere because I feel like every place I look has baby stuff we need to hang on to for the little guy...

Corey was a sweetheart and spent his Friday off doing all kinds of things around the house....and the race car stayed in the trailer. I am sure it was a temptation but there are so many things that are now done and look/feel great. The 'damn daily's as I like to call them (and I believe I stole that from Dr. Phil) just seem to get worse and worse if you don't take care of them..simple things like picking up toys, dishes, laundry, etc..and I was at a point where I was just overwhelmed. In reality it really wasn't bad, but it felt like everything needed to be done and with me hardly being able to bend down to pick things up..it seemed like an impossible feat.

37 Wk Dr Appt

We had a doctor's appointment this past Monday. We got to see our 'little' guy during a growth ultrasound. The doc wanted to see how big he was and, from there, determine an induction plan. Well, baby surpasses the 90th percentile in every category and is weighing in at 7.5 lbs. However- they may be off up to 1 lb and 2 ounces, lets hope he is lighter than what they are thinking and not the other way around. They are not too concerned since Emma was big, this is my 2nd, and its a boy..but he is big. Afterwards, I went and met with my doctor. She checked me and said I am dilated to 3. The look on my face must have been of complete shock because she said, "Yep, 3, so go home and pack your bags." Considering I was hardly dilated to a 1 - 24 hours before my water broke with Emma, I was thrilled! She continued on to say that if I don't have him by next Wednesday (my 38 wk appt) we will schedule an induction for the following week.

For as much as I would love to not be pregnant anymore, if they are only going to induce me a week early, I kind of think I prefer to wait and let him come on his own. It is more natural (so hopefully that means less painful, less waiting around the hospital, etc) and then I get my 'suprise' moment like I did with Emma. We will see how I am feeling, but as of right now I am praying he comes sometime next week....then I don't have to worry about the next step. Hell, if she is thinking of inducing..maybe she can just scrape my membranes...that worked like a CHAMP with Emma. At least that would be a little more natural than pumping me full of petocin.

Since that appointment, we haven't packed or really done anything to continue to get ready. Actually, correction, we did get Emma in her toddler bed. SHE LOVES IT! However there has been one night that she woke up screaming, felt horrid for her. Other than that she loves to be able to jump in and out as she pleases. When we put her down she may get out to get a book, but then she crawls right back in and stays there.

I am definitely in a 'nesting' stage but I dont have the energy to be able to move around and clean things up. In addition, when I bend over to pick up I feel like crap and start cramping real bad. My mom is coming up on Sunday to help me--I am hoping this makes me feel more prepared and less cluttered.

There is 18 days until my due date, so whether I get induced or go on my own...he will be gracing us with his presence soon..

His name----------------------still undecided. Honestly, we do not have a #1 yet.

Happy (belated) 4th of July!

Hello!

The 4th of July has come and gone, which means we are having this baby in just over 3 weeks! It's crazy to think that its that close, yet it doesn't seem close enough. So cliche, I know.

I had my 34 week appt a few weeks ago and my doctor told me that my baby is 'a big boy' after hearing her say it pretty much 3 times in a row..with little to no words in between..I got a little worried. If you have seen me, you can see that my belly is big and it looks like it doesn't have much more room to drop..however my doctor noted "it's not because your belly is large or that its you second child...when I feel your stomach it's all baby, like he already doesn't have room to move. Yep, I know (and can feel) this! I had to skip a 36 week appt because of the holiday and my doctors weren't available, so on Monday we will be doing an ultrasound and then meeting with my OB afterwards. I am psyched to be having an ultrasound because we have only had one so far and we had 3-4 with Emma. By the sounds of it they will be scheduling an induction but as we were chatting it occurred to us that we may have my due date pegged wrong. Since we never did an ultrasound in the beginning it could be that I am farther along then we had thought..this means the baby could truly come anytime--on his own. Like I said before, I want to be done but even more than that I want him to come on his own and have the 'suprise' factor when my water breaks.

Other than the normal aches, pains, and pelvic pressure/pain, I can't really complain. He moves a lot and I enjoy it. I haven't blown up as much as I did with Emma..however I weighed mysef tonight and I weigh a couple pounds more than I did the day I gave birth to Em--swollen and full of fluids. That was kind of an eye opener...yikes!

Emma loves the belly too, she loves to lay on it or up against it. She has become quite the cuddler with me lately and I am sucking it up. She is the cutest girl ever! She still loves to play outside and around Corey as he is working on the race car. She doesn't talk a ton still but understands a lot and we keep working with her to talk rather than her 'eh eh' talk.

Hmm....not sure what else is new ..just trying to put down some notes about the pregnancy..before its all over...

2am wake up!

With Emma it was 12-2/3 and now its 2am. During the week we wake up at 445 to go to work so sometimes I don't get back to sleep and end up staying up for the day but sometimes I do fall asleep around 4am and then just get a nap before work. It is getting pretty annoying but I guess they say it prepares you to be a parent again so I will be appreciative one day---maybe.

I was supposed to have my 32 week appt yesterday; however, long story short it didn't happen. I will do a 34 week appt instead which was a recommendation from my dr. Overall I still feel good, have some cramping when I do a lot of walking and some pain in the morning but otherwise I shouldn't complain. I have been nesting a lot more with this one then Emma. I am always trying to organize my kitchen drawers, cleaning things, but mainly organizing. I am always looking for organizers on Amazon or ways to clean up the clutter. It's a good thing! I spent $25 getting some drawer organizers and it made my week. I just kept opening the drawers and closing them, feels so good!

Last week we had Jennifer & James Unger over for our first bonfire in our bonfire pit. It is always a blast to sit and chat with them, just wish I could have shared in on the alcoholic beverages! My day will come I guess.

Racing is still going well, even though we haven't been on the track a ton, I like having Sunday nights as race nights versus Saturday. We will still race some Fridays and Saturdays, I am sure, but it's not a repeated thing every week-end.

Well that is about all I know this morning. I am sure I will think of more later. Enjoy the weather--I am sure I would if I didnt' have this baby in my belly!

30 Weeks!

I almost forgot to announce..I am 30 weeks along today. This is when the pregnancy is starting to really become a reality. Of course I know I am pregnant and feel the little man moving around all the time- however now it's becoming real that this baby will actually be joining us soon. Yesterday I booked the rest of my doctor's appointments as well, which was an eye opener! With Memorial Day this week-end, we are hoping to make some progress in Eystad Jr's room. Right now its a guest bedroom/throw in whatever you don't know what to do with. In an ideal world we would get a crib this week-end, decide on decorations and paint color, as well as start cleaning it out- not sure that I am living in this ideal world--however we need to kick it in the butt. Summertime = busytime!

Today is also my 3rd year wedding anniversary--Corey and I were talking this morning that its crazy to think 3 years ago we didn't have Emma and she was only a thought. We wouldn't have our family any other way and I know we will feel the same way once the next one joins us. However- if we could go back to 3 years ago we would like to enjoy the wedding experience all over again as well as the great trip to Dominican Republic. 2 years ago today I was 20 weeks pregnant with Emma and we were picking out her bedroom furniture, bedding, stuffed animals, the works and only weeks later did we have it all in her room and ready for her arrival. Of course she was our first- but we are just as excited this time as we were last time...so its time to step it up!

Cravings

With Emma, I didn't really have cravings. I guess you could count the PB & J a craving, but I think it was more of an answer to my hunger without shoving a ton of food in to my mouth. However, lately I have been craving pop. We don't even drink pop at our house, so it's kind of weird. This probably has more to do with the fact that I crave FLAVOR rather than bland lemonade or water. Pop has that boom of flavor and carbonation that just dances in your mouth. Not having had pop for so long the carbonation kind of burns and I can understand when kids say it is 'spicy'. I allowed myself a 'sip' of pop one night and that sip turned in to a can. The same thing happened the next night. Now instead of fighting it, I am just going to go and get some caffeine free pop and allow myself the flavor and sugar.

April showers brings.......more May showers?!

Once again, its been too long since I last wrote. I know I need to post pictures of me and the belly, pictures of Emma, but that never seems to happen. Right now its almost 4am and I woke up to use the potty and found myself tossing and turning. I have some belly pain at night because my mind still wants to sleep partially on my back, which I can do ..........for a while. Then I have more pain or if I do fall asleep when I wake up I can hardly roll out of bed.

Other than sleeping, the pregnancy is still going well. Some days I am a bottomless pit and feel like I am eating constantly, other days its not as bad. I am moving slower and have more back pain, which tends to make me waddle as the day drags on. This time, my placenta is towards the back so I am able to feel movement much better than I did with Emma. This guy moves around all the time and has been kicking the inside of my belly button lately, which is really uncomfortable. While I like the movements I can see how they could get irritating. On a different note, I believe I am more mobile through this pregnancy then I was with Emma (since I started working from home at 30 wks) and I plan to stay that way. I have already gained 25 pounds or so, so I am right on track for another 50 like I had with Emma. I am sitting at 29 weeks. For me, '30' weeks is a milestone where I all of a sudden feel like the baby is coming .....tomorrow. Of course I still have 10 weeks left and plenty of time to get things ready but there is something about it that makes me take a step back. Corey and I have been debating what we will do Memorial Day week-end and have decided that aside from racing..which we are unsure what we will do, but we will be purchasing a crib and bedding set for our little guy. We will also figure out what color we want to paint his room and hopefully pick out a time to paint. By this time of my pregnancy with Emma her room was done. I know she was my first so that's common, but I just would like to get his stuff ready as well. We have also been talking about names more seriously, we haven't agreed yet but hopefully that isn't too far away either or at least find a couple that we both really like. Once we thought of  'Emma Louse' it stuck and we didn't look back and we just haven't found that name for him yet.

On the racing front, Corey has raced 1 night and had 2 practice sessions--the lack of racing has been due to the weather. We decided to race mainly every Sunday at the all new Granite City Speedway (formerly known as the Golden Spike). Last Sunday was our first night and we were proud of his finish. Check out www.eystadracing.com to learn about his schedule and results.

Emma seems to be growing like a weed. She is still IN LOVE with Mickey Mouse Clubhouse while mom and dad pretty much want to see all the characters struggle for air. Her passion for it is so cute, she hears it come on and she is glued to the TV, starts dancing, and sometimes even squeels. Then when all the characters are named she is trying to say them along with the song. She doesn't say many words but 'Daisy' seems to come out the best. Love it! She also loves to play ring-around-the-rosy. I am a better participant than her dad because once she gets started its hard to get her to stop. She tries to sing along with me and, of course, loves to 'fall down'. Her favorite foods are fruit, granola bars, pop-tarts, and yogurt. She loves to go in the pantry and in the fridge any chance she gets. She started the terrible 2s tantrums weeks ago and they happen here and there, some days more than others.

We poured a concrete slab for our driveway on Tuesday and so Emma can finally play with some toys outside. Having that portion done makes me want another slab done but I know it will be a while before that happens and that is ok, I will enjoy this for now. She hasn't played on it yet, but she will love it-she loves being outside! We are always working on projects and the next one will be baby's room as well as figuring out what to do with the kid's play area outside. The old owners filled it with wood chips, which doesn't seem to safe and we are not fans. We are debating about pea rock or rubber mulch. We like the idea of rubber mulch because its soft, effective, it lasts a long time, and doesn't hold moisture or bugs like sand. It is also less maintenance, however all those perks come with a cost too. So if you know anyone or you know how to get a big discount, let us know, because we would be interested!

Well friends, that is about all that is new around the Eystad household. We are just living life one day at a time and not a whole lot changes from day to day. We hope all of you are doing well!

Hello Spring!

Ahhh the nice weather is upon us again! Of course that means the Eystads will be headed to the race track before long, but I guess I will take the good with the bad :) JK.

Yesterday we were promised partly sunny skies and highs in the low 70s and we saw fog, cloudy skies and a high of around 60 (at the most). Today is sunny so I will take it. Emma and I just got back from our walk and I decided to lay her down for a nap and get on here in an attempt at re-creating a blogging habit.

Saturdays are usually pretty productive for me around the house, but yesterday we were in Hutchinson for the car show. This means Emma and I hung out with Corey's family and also made a trip to my sisters to see her family (which was looooong overdue!). Corey hung out at the mall chattin' cars, motors, and everything racing with the fans that walked through. His car looks great. If you haven't seen it yet, you should go to his website: www.eystadracing.com. Thank you to Crow River Signs for making a fantastic wrap to send a 'thanks' to all the troops!

So since yesterday wasn't productive, today was. Laundry, dishes, sweeping, vacuuming, general bathroom clean up and so forth all got done this morning. Then when Emma wanted to hang out outside I cleaned out two of the vehicles. I didn't go all out with vacuuming (although they highly need it) I just picked up the trash and misc stuff that seems to build up.

As I have said before, this pregnancy is way different than my first one. To be honest, I don't even know how many weeks along I am. That is very sad! To figure it out I have to go back to my last dr appt ...so that puts me at 23 weeks as of this coming Tuesday. I think '30' weeks will be an eye opener, knowing I am on the downhill slide may motivate me to do more with his room. Oh yes, we are having a boy. We are thrilled (of course). Corey has already tried using this to his advantage saying that our boy should race and, therefore, we should keep the car. Yep, that isn't going to work with this mama. Here is a long overdue picture. I am 16 weeks in this one...yes I popped very early in this pregnancy and look wayyy larger than I should be for 16 wks.

 Other than that...nothing else is new with these Eystads!

Wayyy too long!

I know it has been entirely too long since my last post- no valid excuse here. The even sadder part is that I am 21 weeks pregnant and this is my first post about my pregnancy. SAD! Let's start there....

Corey and I told our family over Christmas that we are expecting baby #2--aka the final Eystad baby from these two Eystads! I went through a few weeks where I was very naseous again but then it stopped, wayyyy sooner then it did for Emma. In fact at this time with Emma I was still vomitting and that portion of this pregnancy is hardly a memory already. I have been having cravings, whereas with Emma I did not. I went through a long time period where I craved fresh, cold food: carrots, celery, salads, etc and I ate a lot of it! During that time having the smallest amount of sweets would actually cause a stomach ache...well nowadays I have chocolate cravings. If we are friends on Facebook then you know that I found the most amazing ice cream ever. Edy's Triple Cookie Fuge Sundae-including 3 flavors: vanilla with chocolate chip cookie dough, chocolate with chocolate fudge swirl, and vanilla with brownie bites. It's a MUST have! Corey laughs at me but he enjoys it just as much as I do! We went to our 20 week appointment about a week ago and found out we are having a little boy--of course we are thrilled!! It's funny because with Emma I knew right away I was having a girl-there was no doubt in my mind. This time around I didn't have one gender pulling me as much..however there were several times I caught myself referring to the baby as 'he', which coworkers continued to point out to me. Knowing this was our last we preferred a boy, so I was trying to be careful and not get my hopes up. However during the ultrasound it was pretty obvious. I still don't truly believe we are actually having a boy but still completly psyched! We have began discussing names but haven't come across anything that has sold us yet.

Now Emma...she is getting so big! I ask her, 'Where is the baby?' She lifts up my shirt and touches my belly. She mainly likes to do this because her hands are usually cold and by her touching it I jump, which she really enjoys. She also likes to poke at my belly button which I really don't like. She is walking/running all over the place now. She likes to try and copy some of the words we say- her favorite lately is 'hot' she opens her mouth really wide to pronounce it. She also giggles and laughs more often- which is probably the best sound in the world. She highly enjoys being outside and we have realized how much of an issue keeping her indoors is going to be this summer (for naps or whatever). Even if she can't be outside-outside she loves being in the garage. She likes to hit the race car and be around it any way she can. She also searches through Corey's parts containers for 'fun' things to play with. Her favorite lately has been the hose clamps which she tries to take and put them all on her arms as bracelets. It's hot! I am pretty sure if I would have worn hose clamps on our first date, Corey would have married me right then and there. Other new things with her: new favorite food is cherry pop tarts, favorite outdoors toy- stroller or the cozy coupe (reddish car with yellow roof..like the staple outdoors toy for kids).

The racing season is in sight. The race car actually was started today so the motor is in and the graphics are one. Corey has also been doing some work on the trailer as well (powder coated the wheels and fixing the brakes).

Me- well you know..nothing really new other than the baby belly. I still enjoy my sleep at night even though that was supposed to go away after the 1st trimester but I do seem to have energy on the week-ends after a full night sleep. I enjoy baking/cooking with Emma every chance I get. Each Saturday I try to bake cookies or brownies or fresh, homemade cinnamon rolls. She loves sitting on the counter and 'helping me'. She has been trying to help me load/unload the dishwasher as well. In fact, today she decided to take clean tupperware out of the cupbourds and add it to the bottom rack. At least she has the right idea. She also loves to be in the pantry. She understands food comes from there and she likes pointing things out! She has a mouthful of teeth now so she is able to chomp down pretty much everything.

Well that is a heck of an update if you ask me! I know I owe it to you all!

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays everyone!

I know I owe you pictures of Emma, but that isn't going to happen today. Sorry!

This week the whole company is shut down (it's an annual thing)-so Corey and I have the week off--which is great; the downside is that there is no pay which can be tight around this time of year..however we will make it work. Our Staff Accountant at work put in her notice and yesterday was her last day, so for the past two weeks I have been training to take over her position. It will be a good challenge but it is a LOT of work. So while I would love to stay home this week and be with the fam, a smarter idea would be to go in and work at least one of the days to catch up.

Corey has put together his new sponsor packet and he will be meeting with potential racing sponsors this week, so before we know it..the week will be over and we will be back at the office on Monday.

Christmas was good to us, like it is every year. We have a wonderful family and are greatful for our blessings everyday. Some of Emma's favorite toys are the small magnidoodle and the rocking chair she received. She is a big fan of both items..among other things but those seem to be her favorite right now.

She has been walking more and more since my last post. She is pretty much a walker now- it is her mode of choice unless she is wanting to really get somewhere fast..sometimes she gets a little excited and ends up falling more than walking so she will just crawl. Otherwise she will choose to walk most places. She also has been recognizing more and more words which is fun to watch her learn. She doesn't really speak any words but she does recognize them. Of course we love her to death and just have more and more fun with her.

Hmmm that is about all that is new with us. Hope Christmas was wonderful to all of you!

Are you kidding me?

Was my last post really in AUGUST? Wow! That is incredibly horrible. So much for 'keeping tabs on the Eystads'! Well, I guess this is the reason I have stayed away for so long. So much has happened and I don't really know where to start.

Somewhere around September Emma started crawling, although the day before she started I was pretty sure she was going to start walking first. She seemed to have way more interest. Then one Saturday she woke up and just crawled over to Corey. Seriously, that is how it happened. Everything is always on Emma's terms and this was no exception. She has walked along furniture since before she was crawling. She is almost walking now but not quite. She zooms around furniture and if we are on the floor with her she tries to stand up and walk to us on her own. It is obvious that she is pushing herself and really trying. Corey has better luck with her than I do. She just wants to come to be so bad that she chooses the fastest mode of transportation-crawling. We are just getting over pink eye now which she got last week-end and she is battling a bad cough/possible upper respiratory infection. Poor kid. She is still the cutest button ever. For Halloween she was Minnie Mouse-pics are on Facebook. Mickey's Club house is still her favorite show; however she enjoys Elmo and we even watched Monster's Inc the other night and she was pretty 'in' to that too. She eats anything and everything, still loves bread. In fact, she still gets excited when she sees the loaf come out of the cabinet. She is still a happy baby and we couldn't ask for anything more. On October 9 we had an early birthday party with some close family. She loved her mini cake and her gifts.

I have started my Masters program. I'm attending Adler Graduate School in Richfield for Marriage and Family Therapy M.S. I know, its a far cry from my Business degrees however it has been a goal of mine since early High School years. With the recent layoff from Rasmussen, it has allowed me to persue things that I truly want. I absolutely love classes and the students I have met so far.

In the midst of everything on October 31 I started working for my dad, another goal of mine since my early years. I truly love it!! Things are going very well so far.

Hmmm....as you probably have guessed the racing season has ended; however we did race after the 'poof' post. We went to Alexandria for the Fall Classic. Emma got some quality time with her nanas. It was a good time, thanks to my dad for allowing us to take the RV. Without it, I am pretty sure we wouldn't have made the trip.

Well, that is about it. I am sure I am missing milestones and I could spend days telling you about all the cute things Emma does but these are some highlights of our lives since Aug. Now that I have bit the bullet and caught myself up, I hope to continue..............................but we'll see :)

Poof!

Usually 'poof' can be a good thing- like the conclusion of a magic trick where a rabbit all of a sudden appears out of a hat or 'poof' one of your socks is left solo at the end of your laundry pile. This is not the kind of 'poof' that happened to us, wish it was!

Friday Corey decided to go racing in Superior, WI. It was a 2.5 hour drive but I decided not to moan and groan because he has always wanted to go. We packed up Emma and headed out. I have to say, it wasn't a bad trip and Emma did very well. We got there, unloaded, and got on the track. Corey looked great in his heat--until around lap 3 when the car went from a strong 3rd place to fighting for 4th. Then it came- poof-- white smoke. As a racer or race fan, you know this isn't a good thing. Corey put the car in neutral and rolled to a stop. They pushed him in and that was the end of the night. We know the motor has some big problems but we haven't rolled it out of the trailer to look at it yet. Needless to say we drove 5 hours for 4 laps. :(

We had a wedding on Saturday night and hung around the house on Sunday. A lazy rest of the week-end..and that was all right for us!

HELP! Need help in the food department!

Emma has been off the bottle for over a week and was off of formula for almost that whole time as well, until recently when I started giving her a little in her sippy cup as a snack to help supplement the nutrients she needs because....she has become a very picky eater! In the morning she does great- I still have her on Gerber Cereal mix that up with some applesauce or yogurt and she is in heaven. However for lunch, snack, or dinner she isn't eating so well. About 5 days ago or so I gave her a piece of dry bread as a way to buy time while I was getting her supper ready. Needless to say, she fell in love that day...with dry bread. She will eat 2 whole pieces if I let her. She will ignore everything else-spaghetti, lasagna, green beans, fruit, any meat etc. However, she will eat grilled cheese (Go figure--bread!). She also loves toasted bread sprinkled with cinnamon or even a little peanut butter. If its bread- dry or toasted- she loves it. When she was younger, she used to love the fruit and veggies in the jar..and now none of those things interest her. At first, I liked that she was getting her grains and now it seems that is all she is getting. I will say, that generally I don't give in. If she doesn't eat then I may try another thing but then she is done. For example, last night she wasn't eating her lasagna. I tried to spoon feed it to her and I also put it on her tray for her to pick up and neither option worked. Then I tried some fruit and also green beans. She ate a few green beans and then was done. I try to offer a variety of food groups during each meal--and it was working well--until the bread came along!

HELP! Anyone have ideas of how to integrate other foods or how to ignore her only choice? Where am I going wrong?

A Maze'n!

Our life is always eventful in the summertime, but I wouldn't trade my family for anything in the world (the hobbies--maybe but not the people :) Friday we bummed around the house and then Saturday we went racing. The last few days Emma has been in such a great mood that we decided to bring her and she did not dissapoint! It was her second time at the races and the weather was much more favorable this time. Emma hung out on a blanket in the trailer. She played with toys and ate supper/snacks. She got sleepy but I was trying to keep her up for as long as possible so she would just crash. Well she did just that the race before Corey's feature. I put her in her carseat in the truck. She sat up and played with the buckle on her seat belt and then ended up falling asleep like that. I layed her back and turned on the truck to keep it a bit cool in there. Lucky for us we didn't have too long to wait, Corey wanted to watch the Mods after him but it all goes pretty fast at that point. Plus I knew she was out.

Sunday we went to the A Maze'n Farmyard in Eden Valley with Jen, James, and Avery Unger. It is a farm that you can pet animals, enjoy a pony ride, has a large slide, and a train ride (that literally takes you on a path to see nothing--very (un)interesting!). However, the weather was great and it was just fun to have Emma pet the rabits, the camel, horses, and so forth. We even got to feed them a bit..it was a good time.

Emma is on her 4th day without having a bottle (may even be longer but I realized it and started counting 4 days ago). She has had formula 1x the last 2 days. She eats a large breakfast- usually a formula/cereal (toddler cereal) mixture with yogurt and a piece of toast. Then she really hasn't been eating lunch so formula has been supplemented to get her to eat something then at night she eats a full lunch. We haven't tried milk yet but will be soon. She loves to drink out of her sippy cup--usually prefers juice or formula--but will also drink water almost the same. She doesn't crawl yet but she has been rolling over for the past week and a half. She rolls both ways but hasn't really used it to get to places. I know...a lot of babies roll over when they are like 4 months old..but Emma decided that she wasnt' ready until she was 10 months. She also loves to be on her feet and walk around the house. When we let go she falls instantly--still not sure how to balance her weight but we'll take it one day at a time.


                                                         Emma's first racing bracelet.

Cute girls!

Let's pet the bunny!

This fun lil guy kept following us around since we had food. So we decided to let Emma ride him!

Let's go down the slide!

Weeeeeeeeeeeee!

Mommy & Emma

2 + 2 = 4 teeth!

Emma's two top front teeth coming in. We noticed that one broke through the gum over the week-end and noticed the other yesterday. She has had a temp on and off and has been kind of whiny, but she has been WAY better than I expected a teething baby to be.

She turned 10 months old yesterday-so hard to believe. Every time I am away from her I feel like she grows like a weed. :)

Love that girl!

Do you have any allergies?

Up until about 2 months ago, my answer to this question was always "Nope." However, I have realized that I have been allergic to eggs and milk probably most my life. I would get stomach aches after eating and just thought I over ate (again) but now I have realized that it was an allergic reaction. Now that I have stopped eating the foods I have really noticed a difference, especially since I drank at least one glass of milk with every meal.

Well, yesterday my sister and mom had Emma so I asked that she take her to see Jim, the ultimate Chiropractor/Muscle Tester because she has been struggling to have a bowel movement for up to a week. He gave her an adjustment, which he said was needed. Then he also completed a nutrition check and low and behold, she is allergic to eggs as well. If this girl gets any more like her mama--she would BE her mama! She is a true Mini-Me. It goes without saying that 24 hours after her appointment her colon is empty and she is a very happy girl.

I haven't given her a lot of eggs, but I have made them on at least 3 different occassions for her because I just thought it would be a great food for her to eat- protein, easy to make, and easy to eat. She never really cared for them and so it's not a huge loss----however my allergy is strong. I can't even eat foods with eggs and milk in them. I made salmon last night for supper and put mayo on the outside (grilling tip for salmon btw, the mayo adds flavor as well as prevents it from sticking) and I was extremely sick--read the ingredients of the mayo and of course there was egg in there. Yep...thats how bad my allergy is. I will assume that Emma will be the same way for now. So that means a lot of 'ingredient' checking as well as good-bye egg noodles, pudding, a lot of baked goods, ice cream, and all the other yummy foods!

I can't recommend Jim and his practice enough--honestly--it doesn't always work overnight but for Emma it always has. For me it took 2 months but it is SO worth it. In addition, we are working to correct my knee which keeps dislodging and has prevented me from running and enjoying other excersises for years. If I lived close and was able to go as often as I need--it would probably be fixed by now but due to living an hour away, working, and so forth-- I just haven't been able to!

Fun week-end with friends!

Friday came and went without much action around the Eystad home. As Saturday came, Corey's excitement hightened for the big $20,000 to win Modified special at Deer Creek Speedway, which he attended that night. My friend Sarah Anderson and her son Tyson came and spent the day/night with us. We had a lot of fun just hanging out together. Once the kids went down we brought out the adult beverages and sat and laughed. Corey got home around 1:30 and caught us watching our wedding video......yes we started at the beginning and were just minutes from the very end. It was like 'people watching' without having to leave our couch. It was fun to watch our ceremony but a lot of fun to watch the reception and people dancing. Corey joined us for a few drinks and then we all hit the hay. Sunday became a lazy day but I did get the lawn mowed, so it wasn't a complete waste.

Today (Monday) I was supposed to go to Valleyfair with a friend, but thanks to the storms, we didn't get there. Instead, I had a day home with Emma. I also did all the laundry and some homework. It was a successful day...now back to work tomorrow.

Here are some new pictures--until next time..

P.S- It's August?!? Really.....not cool!

Here are some pictures of Corey and 'daddy's little girl'

Here is Emma & Tyson taking a bath.

Last dr appt as a 'baby'!

Yesterday was Emma's 9 month doctor appointment--the next one she will be at she will be a toddler..so sad!

Here are her stats:
Height: 28" = 57th percentile
Weight: 20.8 lbs= 80th percentile
Head: 45 cm= 76 percentile

Seriously, she has gained like one pound in the last 4-5 months..it's just crazy! The doctor still said that she is healthy and isn't worried about her size :)

We asked about concerns since she isn't crawling/moving and she is not concerned at all--so that is good to hear! She still loves to try new foods and is doing well with the sippy cup...but still loves her bottle!

Just wanted to give you all a quick note....

9 months old!

I am the mother of a 9 month old--it is so hard to believe but it's true! Friends of ours, Avery Unger and Jessica Studanski, are celebrating their 1 year birthdays this week-end and it just reminds me that Emma's is just around the corner!

We have been giving her more foods and trying to rely on the bottle less often. She still isn't perfect at the sippy cup but is doing really well during meals. Recently, Corey made his ice cream concoction (ice cream, malt powder, and chocolate syrup) and she tried it..needless to say she was a huge fan and kept leaning closer to him to get more. One evening we also gave her a frozen thin mint girl scout cookie. We thought it would be nice and cold on her front gums as well as a nice treat. We just gave it to her as she sat on the living room floor. Well Corey and I began talking in the kitchen and temporarily forgot about her. Needless to say, when we went back she had chocolate all over her hands, face and even a toy. Just as I began to pry the cookie from her hands it broke in two and she got another taste before the fun ended. She loved it. Since, we gave her another one. Only this time we did so in her booster chair. I also love the graduate meals because they are an easy meal to warm up in a pinch and she eats them really well.

Corey went racing this past Saturday and it was our first time in 3 weeks. It didn't go so well and I don't really know the whole story. It sounds like there was a lot of water on the track and it just wasn't a good thing. Last week-end we went to Watercade in Litchfield. We watched the parade and then grilled with friends. Emma got to be at her first parade and of course I forgot my camera. I have been doing that a lot lately. Then we brought her to my mom's house as we went out for the night--and had a blast with Sarah & Tyler Anderson as well as Laura & Dale Imholte (our new friends). Sunday we came back and grilled with the Ungers-of course that is always a good time. It was too warm to spend time outside so we stayed in.

That is about all that is new..here are some updated pictures.

Bathtime fun!!

Avery & Emma---3 months difference (Avery turns 1 this w/e..yes Emma is a tank next to her)

We told Emma to give her a hug, she leaned in for a kiss instead!

Ice cream with dad--YUM!

1st cookie incident..this is what we found as we came back in to the living room.

She didn't give it up willingly but was still so happy!

Blowing bubbles during tummy time. Puppy finally got to be in a picture.

2nd cookie incident. I have to say, she is a spitting image of me (and my baby pics!!)

1+1=2

2 Little teeth are peeking their way in to Emma's mouth. We noticed last week that she had 1 peaking through..and now there are 2! She has been kind of whiny at night but I have to say I am a HUGE fan of the teething tablets that melt in her mouth. I know some moms don't use them anymore but, I will use them until they are gone. I think it is like any other medicine, don't over use it and your baby will be fine! I prefer them to Tylenol.

She also added 'Nana' to her vocab. I say ' Moma Moma' and she says 'Nananana' or 'Dadadada'..she thinks its funny :) She has said moma before but it's a little game we play.

She is also giggling more-- love it.

Two nights ago during tummy time she lifted her hips/butt up and started to get on her knees. She isn't even close but the fact that she is starting to move the rump roast at all is a nice change!

4th of July

Happy (belated) 4th of July everyone!

Whether you were racing, with family or friends, or just hanging out at home----I hope you all enjoyed your week-end!

We had a great time. Friday we hung out with Jennifer & James Unger as well as Siri & Phil. Of course the Ungers are always a great time and with the addition of Siri & Phil, it was a good time. We started off at Space Aliens for dinner and lunar teas (my favorite)! I hope you were all safe during the storms. Corey and I ended up driving through it on our way to town. The straight line winds hit us and we ended up pulling over-at one time we were thinking the Edge was going to lift off. The sirens were going off but we got to the old neighborhood safely!

Saturday we spent a few hours at the lake with our daycare lady- Brooke & her family. Then Sunday we hung around the house then went to my dad's house to just hang out in the yard for a couple hours. Corey went racing that night, wasn't too successful but at least he got the itch scratched for a little bit. Monday we grilled with my dad and just enjoyed the day as well. Overall, we didn't do a ton but it was still fun!! Here are some updated pictures...

The crew at Space Aliens-----From the left: Siri, Phil, Corey, James, Me, and Jennifer. It was taken on Corey's cell phone so it isn't the best.

                                                    Emma & the puppy (a few weeks ago)

Lake picture #1. She is just getting the feel of the cold water. She whined at first but then didn't mind it at all. If it wasn't so cold, I think she would like it.

 

                                                     Hangin' out on the beach with friends!

Happy 4th of July ---From the Emma Bear